The project of turning Bernie Williams into a part-time left fielder picked up more steam yesterday as No. 51 spent the better part of batting practice by the fence in left watching the way the ball comes off the bat from a new vantage point.

“I’ll just deal with it when it comes,” Williams said before the Yankees’ 4-3 win against the Tigers, downplaying the position change.

Williams last started a game in left early in 1992 before emerging as the Yankees’ everyday center fielder for over a decade.

“It’s just a matter of what’s familiar,” manager Joe Torre said, not committing to when we can expect to see Williams in left. “When you get a little more familiar, you get a little more comfortable. But I like his overall demeanor right now.”

Williams doesn’t anticipate much trouble in adjusting to the new position, but seemed less than anxious about the move before last night’s game.

It is rare that Bernie Williams doesn’t accept managerial decisions with a gracious smile. So before last night’s game, it was telling when Williams answered a question about Joe Torre’s recent suggestion that he prepare himself to play leftfield by saying: “I’ll deal with it when it happens.”

That’s not exactly the same way Williams embraced being moved up and down in the batting order in recent years or even the way he handled being more of a DH than a centerfielder after the Yankees’ season-saving blueprint that moved Hideki Matsui to center, Tony Womack to left and rookie Robinson Cano to second.

Last night, Williams’ body language suggested he’d like to remain the regular centerfielder.

Pretty interesting in how “I’ll deal with it when it happens” can be taken so many ways……..meanwhile, Matsui has played LF, CF, and RF this season, without any fuss.

Just imagine what the NY rags would have to do if everyone on the team was not from the US and didn’t speak English? They’d probably be forced to report on the games.

I think after last season and this one, if Bernie hasn’t “learned” by now, he isn’t going to. Even so, I don’t think he’s putting up much of a fight WRT switching positions. That’s the way he’s always been